Amazon won't bring its MP3 store into it's iOS app. That would mean giving Apple 30% of the cut. But Amazon HAS optimized its MP3 store to work well in the iOS Safari browser. iOS users can buy music from the service via the mobile version of Safari. Purchased tracks will save to the Cloud Player and then can be downloaded to the iOS device as well as other Amazon-enabled devices like the Kindle Fire.

Facebook's been testing free calling over Wi-Fi and cellular data for all Messenger for iPhone users in Canada, and a new free calling button has appeared in the app for US users, no app store update required. To make a call to another Messenger for iPhone user, all you need to do is open a conversation with that person, tap the "i" button in the top-right corner, and tap Free Call.

Lenovo announced it is coming out with its own Chromebook. The ThinkPad X131e will be available for the education market starting on February 26th. The X131e has an 11.6-inch screen, runs on an Intel chip, weighs under four pounds and Lenovo claims the battery will last for an entire school day.

The Wall Street Journal reports that according to its sources, AT&T is mulling a move into Europe. Dutch Provider KPN is one possibility. The largest mobile company in the Netherlands has been trying to sell subsidiary operations in Belgium and Germany. EE, a joint venture of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK was another possible target. Don't expect anything soon though, AT&T is apparently just studying targets.

AT&T is allowing more iOS users to make FaceTime calls over its network for no additional charge, unless of course you're one of them unlimited data plan freeloaders! It used to be only customers with Mobile Share plans and those using an LTE device on a tiered plan could use Facetime over data, now customers with non-LTE tiered plans can do the same. The company claims it wanted to roll the service out gradually, in order to have “minimal impact on the mobile experience for all of our customers.”

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz issued a statement extending her sympathy to everyone who knew Aaron Swartz while defending the office's prosecution of Swartz. Ortiz made clear that those who prosecuted Swartz acted appropriately and as prosecutors had to uphold an oath to enforce the law.

The Wall Street Journal reports Asus is working with Microsoft to get a license to make Windows Phones. Asus makes several successful ultra books as well s Google's Nexus 7 tablet. It also makes an Android phone/tablet combo, the Padfone. Asus was one of the few manufacturers to see its PC shipments rise in 2012. Currently Nokia, HTC and Samsung make Windows Phones, while LG is also rumored to be seeking a license.

$22,000 for LG's brand new 84-inch, 4K TV set is crazy, they said. No one will pay such a ridiculous price, they said. Well, Chosun Ilbo claims LG has already sold 300 units in Korea. Although not the most expensive 4k set on the market, The TV has a 3,840 by 2,160 pixel resolution, LG's Cinema 3D technology, as well as "3D sound" through integrated 2.2 channel speakers.

Peter Kafka at All Things D reports Google has agreed to buy a minority stake in Vevo according to sources. Vevo provides music videos to Google-owned YouTube. Vevo itself is already a joint venture of Universal Music and Sony Music along with Abu Dhabi Media. The deal is supposedly bigger than the $35 million Google sunk into Machinima but the deal won't close until long-term licenses for videos is signed off on.

Nokia continues to restructure. The company will cut 300 IT jobs and will also outsource over 800 more. Nokia has been streamlining its operations to reduce costs since June 2012 when it announced it would lay off 10,000 people. This latest announcement is a part of that larger cut. Nokia will be reporting its Q1 results on January 24th.

- Lenovo backing Chrome OS with the Thinkpad X131e for the eduction market available February 26th for school systems- This is a Thinkpad, not an ideapad (Thinkpad is traditionally the Windows-powered business notebok)- Specs: 11.6-inch screen, Intel inside, 1366 x 768 isplay, 3.92 pounds, battery that Lenovo says will last "the entire school day."- Samsung ($250) and Acer ($200) already make Chromebooks available for the public.

Q: Whenever we look at Windows, we usually ask, where else would an OEM go? With Lenovo's move, is Chrome OS becoming a real alternative for OEMs?

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Yelp Partners With Local Authorities To Add Hygiene Scores To Restaurant Reviews, Starting In San Francisco & New York

- FB had the big graph search news this week, yelp's stock took a hit- Yelp is adding restaurant inspection scores to reviews on its business pages, initially for the cities of San Francisco and New York, but with a plan to roll the feature out to other cities where local authorities are open to working with it.

- latest hygiene score to be displayed directly on the restaurant listing — as a number out of 100, with title "health score" in big letters- yelp blog post explains the new open data standard called the ‘Local Inspector Value-entry Specification’, or Lives for short, which ”enables local municipalities to display their hygiene inspection data as a business attribute on Yelp”. Being an open data standard, Lives could also be used by other sites to display restaurant inspection ratings for eateries

The saga of Face Time on AT&T.- First only WiFi then only LTE customers and mobile share customers- Now all customers who aren't on unlimited plans can use it.- AT&T’s Mark Collins says that the company wanted to roll the service out gradually, in order to have “minimal impact on the mobile experience for all of our customers.”- Last September several public interest groups (Free Press, Public Knowledge) placed a formal complaint with the FCC over the policy- Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press: "We remain ready to bring our complaint unless AT&T finishes the job and stops blocking this application altogether."Q: Is this a big net neutrality issue, or just AT&T being ultra-conservative with their network management?

Netflix has a Content Delivery Network (CDN) 'Open Connect'- Boxes in ISP cut transit costs, Cablevision just struck deal, customers get Super HD and 3D content now- Time Warner Cable complaining Netflix is holding back high quality content to get preferential treatment- Netflix says 'Open Connect' provides data at no cost to the ISP and does not seek preferential treatment- Super HD supposedly better 1080p picture than current 1080p avail: Sony's PlayStation3, Nintendo Wii U, Windows 8, Roku, Apple TVs with 1080p, and select smart TVs and Blu-Ray playersavailable on Sony's PlayStation3, 5-7mbpsNintendo Wii U, Windows 8, Roku, Apple TVs with 1080p, and select smart TVs and Blu-Ray players- ISP must connect to the same peering locations as used by the Netflix network and establish connections of at least 10Gbps. Cost of installing boxes and maintenance borne by ISP

TWC statement to Multichannel News: Netflix is actually closing off access to some of its content while seeking unprecedented preferential treatment from ISPs… We believe it is wrong for Netflix to withhold any content formats from our subscribers and the subscribers of many other ISPs. Time Warner Cable’s network is more than capable of delivering this content to Netflix subscribers today.”

Netflix response to MCN: "Open Connect provides Netflix data at no cost to the location the ISP desires and doesn't seek preferential treatment."

- Yet another fitness tracker?- This is the Amiigo, currently an indiegogo project that has already reached its funding goal of $90k.- The Amiigo is a two piece fitness tracking product: there's a waterproof bracelet and shoe clip.- The hook (at least the claims): the bracelet can tell what activities you are performing including resistance training like weights. It can also tell the difference between a treadmill and an elliptical machine. - It'd hook into your iPhone or Android device over BT 4.0- The bracelet and clip can monitor your workout together, or you can use only one. - The Amiigo now starts at $99, but you'll have to wait until June for delivery of these stylish little motivators.

Q: In theory, this will make it even easier to track exercises. Does the promise of the Amiigo get you interested in the product?

- Pingdom is a robust uptime monitoring service, went through 2012 and compiled as many interesting facts about the Internet as poss in 1 blog posta few that jumped out at me: - 50.76% – Percentage of all spam that was about pharmaceuticals, the top category of all spam.- 2.4 billion – Number of Internet users worldwide.1.1 billion – Number of Internet users in Asia.519 million – Number of Internet users in Europe.274 million – Number of Internet users in North America.

- 565 million – Number of Internet users in China, more than any other country in the world.42.1% – Internet penetration in China.

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Randomizer

We will narrow this down to one story, put your initials next to the story you like best

During episode 670 you discussed The Lomography Smartphone Film Scanner.

While I love the idea of a cheap alternative to scanning your old film, I wonder what kind of quality we can expect. Color correction is easy. I am more concerned with the level of detail that will come from taking a photo of film.

I few years ago I bought a dedicated film scanner which can scan negatives or slide film. It even transports the film automatically. I was extremely impressed with the quality of the scans.

I scanned hundreds of old negatives and slides. Even though it took a very long time, I am really glad to have years of old photos available digitally.

A dedicated scanner will cost several hundred dollars so it is harder to justify the upfront cost. However, if you are going to spend the time scanning your own film, I only want to have to do it once.

Love the show!

Thanks,Jerry in Ohio

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Hi TNT Crew (yes I see you Jason),

You talked about how the press claims to not be able to find out the original photographer of a photo they technically hijacked from a Twitter Account.

Every photographer knows, if you're going to release your art to the public, you use EXIF (Exchangeable Image File) Data which can be easily set in PhotoShop automatically (or load a profile) but otherwise if you just view the photo details, on Windows you can easily save personal notes or read more about the image.

So, I am not buying that they didn't know or thought of this before hand. Unless the image data was removed or image screen shot for a re-upload, excuses only make you feel better... Or help keep your job?

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